The Food Trust’s goal is simple: make healthy food available to everyone. Sounds easy enough, right? But how do you actually do that? You teach good nutrition, you help poor neighborhoods open grocery stores, you provide the training for schools to serve healthy foods and you offer fresh, healthy seasonal food in many neighborhoods in the form of farmers markets. Headhouse Farmers’ Market is just one of Food Trust’s 30-plus markets throughout Philly.

Located in the historic Headhouse Square in Society Hill, the market is open every Saturday and Sunday, May through December, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. With over 30 vendors, it offers the very best local produce, artisanal chocolates and cheese, fresh bakery items and a rainbow of fresh-cut flowers. Many of the city’s popular food trucks make a stop near the market; you can get your coffee from Joe Coffee Bar, now Philly Fair Trade Roasters, and a sausage sandwich from Renaissance Sausage while you browse the wares. If you need to, you can even purchase some local compost from Bennett Compost. Be prepared for crowds; Headhouse Market can get really packed.

The vendors at Headhouse Market only accept cash, but an ATM can be found nearby. All of the Food Trust’s farmers markets’ vendors accept Senior Citizens and WIC mothers Farmers Market Nutrition Program vouchers and SNAP/Food Stamps (EBT Access cards for food stamp benefits). In a new initiative, for every $5 spent on fresh, local products with SNAP/Food Stamps, the user receives $2 in Philly Food Bucks. The Food Bucks can then be spent on more fruits and vegetables.

One of the late spring/early summer’s great vegetables is fennel. Don’t let your childhood hatred of black licorice scare you away. This licorice-flavored and healthy (one cup has 20% of your recommended daily value of vitamin C) member of the parsley family is becoming a popular ingredient in all kinds of cooking.

Fennel has a bulbous base, celery-like stalks and feathery leaves. The entire plant is edible; the crisp bulb has the expected anise flavor and is slightly sweet and tasty when served raw in salads. If you cook it, whether by roasting, grilling, braising or sautéing, the bulb becomes mellow and soft.

Look for white bulbs that are firm and solid. The stalks should be crisp, with feathery, bright-green fronds. Pick up some fresh, crunchy fennel bulbs and garlic from Blooming Glen Farm, and enjoy this recipe from its website:

Soak the beans for 4 hours, replace with fresh water and bring to a boil. Pour out the boiling water. Replace with fresh water and add bay leaves and garlic. Simmer until tender but not mushy, 40-50 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat, stir in salt. Drain beans and cool. Trim the stalks and rough outside layers of the fennel. Cut the stalks into quarters and remove the cores. Thinly slice the pieces and add to the beans. Add the onion.

Combine the lemon juice, vinegar, mustard and garlic powder and mix well. Whisk in the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Toss the dressing with the salad and add the basil.